RESEARCH has revealed that many North-East students are not aware of funding to help them stay on at school.

The Association of Colleges (AOC) has found that a high number of 16 to 18-year-olds do not sign up for education maintenance allowances, despite being eligible.

The majority of those who do opt for it choose the £40 allowance that is made payable straight to students.

The research also revealed that 30 per cent of students in the North-East felt that they were not given enough advice by their school about what their options were at 16. The national average is 34 per cent.

There are seven different models of the education allowances that are available to students.

Participating local authorities include North Tyneside, Middlesbrough, Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland.

AOC chief executive Dr John Brennan said: "Evidence shows that education maintenance allowances help to increase the number of poorer young people staying in college or school after 16.

"But these figures suggest that both local and national government need to do more to make next year's national roll out a success."

He said that some local education authorities needed to do more to make young people aware of the allowance scheme.